really cool spin on a fantastical adventure in which every facet of the game contributes to a one of a kind dream-like experience. the core mechanic of replaying the game over and over again made me appreciate many things about the story, mainly how it presents it self near the beginning as a straight-forward fantasy story with magic spells and beasts to slay before it abruptly ends with harsh moments more akin to reality.

the combat system in this game is so simple, yet so smooth and fun that i didn't really mind playing this game 7 times through (yes i had to play it two extra times because i accidentally locked myself out of endings twice). my only issue is that it stagnates past your first few playthroughs and doesn't really progress unless you want to grind to upgrade your weapons.

i feel like i'm very picky with music in media and this game's soundtrack is absolutely incredible. the amount of attention to detail put into it (even coming up with made-up languages for some of the songs) is unequaled. a ton of these songs got stuck in my head in day-to-day life when I wasn't playing lol.

i found many of the characters' exaggerated main traits (kaine's vulgarity, emil's timidness) to be the slightest bit irritating, but other than that, the immense amount of care put into each characters interactions with you and eachother truly make this game come alive.

would replay another like 2-3 times if necessary

It would be really easy to simply look at this shiny new remake of one of my favorite games ever and crown it a 10 that far outshines the original. In many ways, Persona 3 Reload does improve on the original Persona 3's content - Tartarus feels like it isn't a chore, combat is the best it has ever been in Persona, the writing of the party members feels so much more cohesive and present, especially for the male party members without social links (Aragaki and Amada in particular feel SO much more involved with the rest of the cast thanks to these sort of mini social links, to the point where they evolved into being a couple of my favorite characters), and the plentiful quality of life changes make day to day activities much more enjoyable and streamlined.

Despite these additions, there are some small things that the original release of Persona 3 does better than Reload. The lighting and overall feeling of the environments in the PS2 release paint a picture that feels more in line with the themes and overall vibe of the game (still, Reload's environments, backgrounds, and models are all gorgeous, if just perhaps a bit too shiny and bright at times); the soundtrack is a mixed bag, with some excellent remixes (Changing Seasons, Master of Shadow) and new tracks (It's Going Down Now, Paint Your Night) but some new mixes that are unfortunately inferior to the original versions (Mass Destruction, Memories of You); some movie cutscenes (both in-engine and animated) look and feel a little bit rigid, and one particular cutscene at the end of the game fails to recapture the powerful emotions that this moment is able to evoke in the original, which was disappointing. These are certainly not experience ruining flaws for me, but they are occupying enough space in my brain to prevent me from lauding this game as a perfect 10. Which is okay!

Persona 3 Reload makes leaps and bounds to bring the original Persona 3 to a more modernized form, and despite some of the missteps it makes, this was a spectacular experience. It is hard to play through this game's story (which is still easily the best in any Persona game) and not come away thinking that it is a masterpiece.

Persona 3 has a message that is simple yet extraordinarily powerful when backed up by the rest of the game's story and character arcs - it's not an understatement to say that this can be a life changing game. Reload ultimately accomplishes its goal of expanding upon that message and amplifying it to a new audience with flying colors.